Monday, January 5, 2009

Montreal Canadiens: Why The Kostitsyn Brothers Should Stick Together

Reunited for yesterday's match-up against the Florida Panthers, the Kostitsyn brothers, Andrei and Sergei, sparked the Habs' offense to a close 6-5 OT win over Peter DeBoer's team.

Lining up on a line with veteran Robert Land, the "Mullet line" produced three of the Canadiens' goals. Lang finished the afternoon with one goal and one assist (+2), while Andrei notched two goals (+2) and Sergei added two assists (+4).

With Alex Tanguay out for an extended period of time, the Canadiens desperately need to find secondary scoring to help ease the pressure on Kovalev's line.

Ever since they were kids, the Kostitsyns played hockey together at every level. That is why they play so well when reunited.

Sergei, who is more of a passer, has a great vision, solid skating abilities and a great hockey sense. Sergei also kills penalties with Robert Lang because of his great defensive awareness. He can also man the point on the power play.

Andrei, who is more of a shooter, is blessed with a quick release and a heavy shot. His has excellent puck-handling abilities and his strong on the puck.

As you can see the brothers compliment each other perfectly because of their different sets of skills, that is why they should stick together for a while, whether it is with Robert Lang, Saku Koivu and Tomas Plekanec.

As Carbonneau said, "Andrei shoots more when he plays with Sergei instead of Alex Kovalev, when he plays with Kovy he tries to give him the puck too much". Andrei added that he's more confortable playing with his brother.

I believe Carbo has finally understood that the brothers should stick together for a while now...